MCLEAN, Va. – December 11, 2015 – Building on its reputation of world-class brands and having one of the fastest growing portfolios in the industry, Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) today announced the company is creating an ‘All Suites’ brand category to include Embassy Suites by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton, as well as changing up its brand leadership roster to further maximize performance across the enterprise.
Hilton Worldwide orchestrated this movement to amplify its growing brand portfolio, and with its All Suites category, maximize the synergistic relationship that the three brands share across development, operations and sales. These changes will foster greater owner support, quality assurance and product enhancement.
Jim Holthouser, executive vice president, global brands, Hilton Worldwide, said: “One of Hilton Worldwide’s greatest attributes is our brand management expertise and leadership. Today our brand management strength is as important as ever with the rapid global expansion of our brands and the need to keep them fresh, relevant and highly competitive. To continually strengthen our bench of brand management talent, we believe in giving our leaders broader brand exposure and experiences across different brand categories. With this in mind, I am delighted to announce that several of our brand leaders will be taking on new assignments within our portfolio.”
The following transitions will take effect in January 2016:
Global Head, DoubleTree by Hilton Dianna Vaughan will be promoted to Senior Vice President and become the Global Head, DoubleTree by Hilton and will also continue to oversee the Curio brand. Vaughan’s unique and diverse background includes 23 years of experience with Hilton in a variety of leadership positions including General Manager, Brand Performance Support, Global Marketing, and Global Culture. Most recently she successfully led the launch of Curio – A Collection by Hilton, and has driven its conversion pipeline across the world with outstanding results.
Global Head, Hilton Garden Inn John Greenleaf will be appointed to Global Head, Hilton Garden Inn. Throughout his career, Greenleaf has built an impressive track record across the hospitality industry in both full and focused service brands. His global experience combined with breadth of brand experience across marketing and Brand Performance Support with Hilton and DoubleTree, make him the ideal person to lead Hilton Garden Inn’s global expansion going forward.
Global Head, Homewood Suites & Home2 Suites Adrian Kurre will be appointed as Global Head, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites. Kurre is a highly experienced brand leader, with more than two decades in the industry. There were four operating Hilton Garden Inn hotels when Kurre started and during his nineteen year tenure he has overseen its growth to more than 650 properties. Kurre will transfer his knowledge and experience of growing scale brands to Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites under the new ‘All Suites’ category.
Global Head, All Suites Brands and Embassy Suites by Hilton Bill Duncan will oversee the newly created All Suites division encompassing Embassy Suites by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton; Bill will also serve as brand manager for Embassy Suites. Duncan has more than 25 years of experience with Hilton, most recently serving as Global Head of Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton. In this role, Duncan established Homewood Suites as a leader in the upscale extended-stay segment by growing market share, expanding the brand's footprint to over 375 hotels and upholding the brand's award-winning customer satisfaction culture – including six consecutive "Top Extended Stay Hotel" honors from J.D. Power & Associates. He also led the launch of Home2 Suites, which has been one of the fastest growing brands in Hilton’s history. Prior to his tenure with Hilton’s extended stay brands, Duncan worked nearly a decade on the Embassy Suites brand team serving in various management, hotel performance support and sales roles.
Hilton’s suite-style brands comprise nearly 15 percent of the company’s current inventory and almost 20 percent of its pipeline, by rooms.
“Leading this evolving group of All Suite hotels, there is great opportunity to take the success of the Embassy, Homewood and Home2 Suites brands to the next level as they continue their global growth,” said Duncan. “As the first hospitality company to take an integrated approach to managing suite-style brands, we are transforming the All Suites category to provide a more intuitive offering for owners, as well as our guests from around the world who look to us as their home away from home.”
